Environment Forum
Global environmental challenges
Major California port sees greener trucks
One of California’s biggest ports has cleaned up its fleet of 8,000 trucks.
The Port of Long Beach has cut nearly 80 percent of emissions from truck engines at the port since it started its ban of old diesel-fueled trucks. That’s roughly 200 tons less of soot — known as particulate matter — in the air at the port annually.
In 2008, the port of Long Beach, together with its sister port in Los Angeles started to green their truck fleets, targeting trucks built before 1989. Together the ports make up the busiest cargo hub in the United States.
In 2010 the ban at Long Beach ramps up to prohibit trucks from 1993 and older, plus trucks from 1994 to 2003 that have not been updated with exhaust filters to meet strict emissions standards.
The move at Long Beach has drawn controversy from the trucking industry, but reflects a broader trend toward smart mobility and to make transport hubs around the world greener.
Now the port of Long Beach is dealing with its ships, trains and terminals to reduce pollution.
Over the next several years, the port is building an electrical system so that ships can plug in for power and turn off their engines. Currently cargo ships run their diesel engines for operations – such as keeping containers refrigerated — while at port. Long Beach is also looking at automated terminals to help reduce greenhouse gases, said Art Wong, a spokesman at the port.
Palin asks Schwarzenegger to terminate shipping fees
California environmentalists are in tizzy this week, accusing Republican Vice Presidential candidate and Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin of telling their governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger, how to do his job.
At issue is a letter Palin sent to Schwarzenegger last month, asking him to veto a bill that would raise shipping container fees to pay for pollution-reduction programs at three major California ports.
The letter, which Palin sent to Schwarzenegger a day before she was announced as John McCain’s running mate, began circling on the Web on Thursday.
In it, Palin argues that the fees would hurt Alaskans, who rely heavily on marine cargo to receive goods.
“Shipping costs have increased significantly with the rising price of fuel and these higher costs are quickly passed on to Alaskans,” Palin wrote. “This tax makes the situation worse.”
Palin also argued that the $30 fee per 20-foot container would “harm California by driving port business away.”
California’s three biggest ports — Long Beach, Los Angeles, and Oakland — are responsible for nearly half of the nation’s imports.
I hope that people realize the seriousness of this election. I hope that they can see through the spin that the religious right backed McCain campaign is putting out. Our future as a country is at stake, dear people. Do you want the bible literalists guiding this world into their version of “end times”?consider this: Palin is pro-life and yet she is pro-guns. Does that make logical sense? Guns can be used to kill; if one is pro-life does it make sense to be in favor of guns?
